Tupac: vandalized and assassinated?
October 24th, 2007 by Rodney Carmichael in Music news
More than a decade after his unsolved murder, it seems Tupac still can’t rest in peace.
A bronze statue of the rapper was vandalized over the weekend in Stone Mountain at the Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts (5616 Memorial Drive). DeKalb County police report that a cross was found around the neck of the statue; but Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation representatives state both a cross and a noose were found hanging on the statue.
In a press release issued today, the foundation links the incident to other recent hate crimes that have received national attention, such as the Jena 6 case:
The noose hung around the statue’s neck is an imitation of other cases recently reported in the media after a surge of hate crimes. The statue was also plastered with handbills of garbled rants that include references to 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina as well as vague threats against various record companies and rappers. The manner of the attack indicates it is the work of one or more individuals.
A male found inebriated at the site Monday morning has been arrested by DeKalb police in connection with the vandalism. The investigation continues. Ironically, the center was supposed to serve as the primary site for a Monday rally to bring attention to the amount of killings by police in DeKalb County last year.
In other Tupac news, Kevin Hackie, one of the rapper’s former bodyguards, publicly admitted at a recent L.A. screening of the new DVD documentary, Tupac: Assassination, that he was an undercover FBI agent during his employment as a bodyguard with Tupac’s label Death Row Records from 1992 to 1996.
The surprising revelation comes at an inauspicious time considering the federal charges rapper T.I. faces, in part, as a result of his bodyguard’s cooperation with federal ATF investigators.
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October 24th, 2007 at 10:25 pm
WoW! Very intriguing and informative!
It’s too bad that people cannot find other means of expressing their disdain. I mean come on, hanging nooses around the statue of the deceased….
This racist/hate crime stuff is disgusting and primitive…get over it…get some therapy and find another way to express yourself (to the persons responsible for the immature and stupid crime)
October 25th, 2007 at 8:02 am
Hazel, there was no noose around his neck. Someone put a necklace with a cross around his neck..obviously not a hate crime but someone honoring their hero.
With that said, the Tupca statue is a joke and should be taken down. What a disgrace to the state, that some criminal would be honored like that. Sick.
October 25th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
NRB, according to the post and the news article, there was a noose AND a cross hung around the statues neck. And in MY culture/ethnic background, a noose does not indicate honor, it blatantly represents hate and death!
Furthermore NRB, you may want to brush up on your hip-hop history, Tupac was no criminal per se, the things that he spoke about in his music, were things that others experienced. He may have made some mistakes, as most humans do, but he was no more of a criminal than the persons in Washington D.C who represent this country.
Hey, in your spare time try checking out Tupac Resurrection. So that you can be a little more informed when you respond to people…and I would like to encourage you to re-read this post, just for clarification!
Thanks!